Monday, April 17, 2017

I'm a Dad!!!

Well hello everyone. I'm a little short on time because I got so many birthday wishes! Thank you so much to everyone who remembered me on my 20th birthday! It means a lot to me!

So this week was a flipping great week!! I learned a ton from just living my life. I'm a dad now, I picked up my kid from Huancayo and we had absolutely no time to proselyte this week, it was pretty busy!

I spent Monday hanging out with Elder Crosland wrapping up some things we needed to do before I had to leave. That night we went to a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with Luisa and Guillermo. It was such a great time. We talked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and the blessings that come from keeping it holy. They are such great people and the spirit was so strong. I'm glad I got to spend my last night with them and Crosland.

After that I got on a bus at about 9:30 p.m. and headed to Huancayo. I feel like I have been in Huancayo more than I have been in my area this month! When we (Elder Walker and myself) arrived there we slept for about an hour then Tuesday morning we went to the mall in Huancayo and contacted crowds of people for about 3 hours. Being Semana Santa (Easter week) the crowds were huge. Everyone was there to see the artwork of Christ's life. We had a good time talking to people there.

Then Wednesday morning we went to pick up our new companions (our new kids). I was feeling a little bad about leaving Elder Crosland and my area in Huanuco and being a Zone Leader. I talked to Elder Larson, one of the Assistants. He told me that I was set to stay where I was with Elder Crosland, and then Sunday night President called him and said he had had a strong confirmation that I needed to train Elder Shaul and I needed to be assigned to Tarapaca. I know that President is inspired and I would trust anything that he asked me to do. But I consider myself very lucky, or blessed this time. I know now it was inspiration, I should never doubt President's inspiration. I got the only white kid in the whole group!! And he is the coolest! His name is Elder Shaul, and he's from Bear Lake, Idaho!!!!! There were about 19 new missionaries arriving in the mission and what are the odds that I get to train him. I know the Lord's hand was in that decision, and I know it is right. I know I am supposed to be here in Tarapaca. I walked into the church here and I had that feeling of deja vu, only better, I feel like I've been here before, everything here seems so familiar to me. It's not by chance that I'm here, I'm supposed to be here.

Elder Shaul and Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen and Elder Shaul

Luke will be training Elder Shaul

All of the new missionaries and their trainers

We arrived back in Huanuco (Tarapaca is my new area) Thursday night and worked hard to figure out what the area is and how we are going to work it. Tarapaca has been closed for a while so we needed to get in and find out if the members have been doing missionary work or if we're starting from scratch. Friday night we went and stayed with Elder Moss in his area (he's the ZL here). I spent my birthday just chilling with him and our companions. We even got a Mountain Dew for my birthday! I didn't lack for cakes on my birthday! I actually had 3 birthday cakes, so don't worry Mom! It was a pretty good birthday, thank you to everyone who put stuff in the package that my mom sent to me! I loved the cards and letters!

On Sunday night after praying super hard for the past week, my prayers were answered. We made an appointment with a man named Raul. When we got there he had totally stood us up. It was about 7:45 at night and I was thinking, "now what do we do?" So we walk over to the street corner and a man comes over and drops his trash off and says, "hey, how are you?" and I say to him, "I'm Fine, I think" and my companion then said the same thing. We talked to him for a few minutes. He asked us who we were and what we were doing. I explained to him that we were representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I asked him if he had ever talked to the missionaries before. He said, "no". I showed him a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked if he had seen the book before. He said, "no" again, and then he asked how much it was to buy it. I told him it was free, that I would give it to him. He seemed pretty excited that I would just give it to him. He turned to walk away, and then turned back and said, "so when are you going to visit me?" Honestly, that caught me a little off guard! I said "Uhh how about Wednesday?" He said, "great"! We got his information and now we have an appointment on Wednesday with him. I hope he's read some of the book by then. I have such a good feeling about him. He seemed so ready to receive this book.

When we arrived back home at 9:30 Sunday night I recieved a call from the Relief Society President and she said, "Elder Christensen, I am super happy that you both are here in the Taràpaca ward; but I'm even happier because I've been talking to this lady, she is Jordi`s mom and she just agreed that this week she is going to get married and then get baptized on Saturday!" I'm so happy the members have continued to do missionary work here even though there have not been any missionaries here!! What great news!

Also, do you remember Milton and Biliana? They are the couple that I promised that if they would leave their jungle home and move to Huanuco where they could attend church weekly that they would be blessed with a job and what they needed. Well, they did it. And... they are getting married on April 28th and then baptized. I think I may be able to be there for both of them! I'm so happy for them!

It's been a great week, full of miracles. I love to look for the miracles, they are always there. Once again, it was reaffirmed to me that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS. He answers mine, and he'll answer yours. You just have to talk to him, ask him, he is there. Keep praying, I know that He will answer. I know it. He loves us. He wants happiness for us. This gospel is true, it makes us happy when we live it. I know it's true. I love you all and I'll see you all very soon. goodbye!